The Republicans now have a plan for the wall—taxpayers will foot the multibillion dollar bill and GOP lawmakers will stuff it down Democrats’ throats by tucking it into a must-pass budget bill. If Democrats refuse to vote for it, it will cause a government shutdown. But here's why Democrats should reject the wall at all costs: It's Donald Trump's No. 1 priority and the only way for him to keep the adulation he needs so very badly from his rabid nativist supporters. If he fails at the wall, he loses them. And it would be soul crushing for Trump if his most avid supporters turned against him.
As Markos pointed out earlier, this is a fight Democrats should welcome because making taxpayers fund the wall breaks Trump’s fundamental campaign promise: that Mexico would pay for the wall. That may be acceptable to his nativist cohort, but most Americans will despise paying for a wall they never wanted in the first place. Pew Research released numbers Friday showing that only 39 percent of Americans "view building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border as a very or somewhat important goal."
But to get an idea of just how important that wall is to the overall Republican agenda, we must remember that there is no one agenda. In fact, there's still a very precarious negotiation going on between Republicans on the Hill and the incoming popular vote loser, Trump.
Two tweets that summed up that dynamic perfectly came from reporter Robert Costa, who noted that Mike Pence was playing emissary for the new administration in order to calm the frazzled nerves of congressional Republicans.
"Part of the reason Pence is on the Hill is to reassure skittish mainstream Rs that they'll get what they want on lots of domestic issues," he wrote. "But Pence is also making clear that as much as he'll be a friend and 'one of them' in spirit, he's there to get what Trump wants done," Costa added.
House Republicans couldn't have been happy this week when they were publicly rebuked by Trump for trying to push through an ethics overhaul. Pence went to the Hill as a peacemaker, letting lawmakers know that their relationship with Trump can be symbiotic: He gets what he wants, they get what they want.
Dealing a blow to Trump on his main campaign promise—the "big beautiful wall" he talked about with such conviction from the very first day he entered the race—would thoroughly rattle the incoming pr*sident. Republicans seem to know that.
“I think the sooner Republicans can get it done the better because [Trump] made such an issue out of it,” said Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the former chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.
And if Trump doesn't get what the wants, neither will congressional Republicans. Because that's perfectly consistent with the nasty tempestuous behavior of the man-child who's getting ready to occupy the Oval Office.
Breaking whatever semblance of an alliance now exists between Trump and GOP lawmakers should be the number one priority for Democrats. An early rupture in that relationship could save American voters from a whole lot of horrible.
